Key Words
Aims – These are the overarching goals that an enterprise wants to achieve. They can set out what the enterprise wants to achieve in the future
Bankrupt - A person that cannot pay their debts
Budgets – The amount of money put aside for a purpose
Chain (as in a chain of businesses) – These are groups of businesses, such as hotels or coffee shops which are owned by one parent company
Characteristics – These are features that are typical of a enterprise.
Competitive advantage - This is the advantage gained by offering superior goods or services to those of competitors or offering cheaper prices.
Competitors - These are businesses that sell similar goods or services to your enterprise. You should take their products into consideration when deciding things like pricing and target markets
Contingency plan – This is a back-up plan for when things go wrong for an enterprise.
Customer needs - These are the wants or requirements a customer has for goods or services.
Demand- This is the number of customers, or potential customers, actively wanting your goods or services.
E-commerce – This is where products are purchased and sold through online services or over the internet.
Economy - This is the system by which a country’s money and goods are produced and used.
Enterprise – The term used to describe a business or company that provides goods or services. It comes from the French word ‘entreprise’ which means ‘undertaking’
Entrepreneur – This is the name given to a person who sets up their own enterprise to make profit
Environmentally friendly – This means the enterprise consider the environment and the materials they use when producing their goods and services
Ethical – Means to avoid harm to others, animals, or the environment
Feasibility - Means how easy or practical it will be to do something successfully.
Features - These are aspects or elements of a service or goods.
Financing - This is finding money for something
Fluctuation - This is variations such as rises and falls in prices or costs.
Focus groups – These are group interviews during which people are asked for their views and opinions about different ideas that are suggested to them – for example, a proposal for a new product or enterprise.
Gaps in the market – This is where a product or service is created, that does not currently exist, that no else is yet producing.
Goods - Goods are physical products that can be purchased.
Gross profit - This is the money made from selling a product (sales revenue) after the cost of sales has been deducted. It is calculated before tax has been taken off
Growth - This is when the number and value of goods and services produced in an economy is going up. This usually results in consumer confidence.
HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) – The agency that collects taxes and National Insurance from individuals and business in the UK
Independent enterprise – Not part of a larger chain or organisation
Industry – This means an area of goods or services that are being sold – for example, the computer repair industry.
Innovative – This is where an existing idea is improved to meet new needs or to enter a new market
Interest- This is a percentage of the total amount of money lent, which is added to the amount that must be repaid.
Inventive – This is where a new idea is developed and is different to what is already offered on the market
Legislation - This relates to the laws of a country, which everyone must obey.
Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) – This is a partnership that is entered with limited liability so that the partners are not responsible for each other’s debts
Loan - A loan is a sum of money borrowed that is expected to be paid back to the lender, usually with interest added on.
Loyalty (customer loyalty) – This is when a customer returns to an enterprise to continue buying goods or services
Ltd (Private Limited Company) - The owner has limited liability because it is a separate legal identity
Market - A market is the type of customers an enterprise sells to.
Market research – This is the process of gathering information about customers, including what they want and what they need – for example, the number of people who might wish to buy a product.
Market share - This is the proportion of all the sales of a group of related goods or services that an enterprise makes when calculating the total ‘market’ for that group of products. The total market is calculated by adding together the sales made by the enterprise and all its competitors.
Medium sized enterprise – An enterprise that employed between 50 and 249 people
Micro enterprise – An enterprise consisting of up to 10 people and independent of larger organisation
Mindset – This is how you view the world. You may have heard the word ‘growth mindset’ around school
Negotiating – This is having a discussion with others with the aim of reaching an agreement.
Net profit – This is the money from selling a product (sales revenue) after the cost of sales has been deducted and after tax has been deducted
Objectives – Objectives work alongside aims by providing specific targets and timescales. These are often turned into SMART objectives
Open-ended questions – These are structured questions to encourage a long answer based on the interviewee’s opinion.
Partnership – This is two or more people are legally responsible for an enterprise
Perseverance- This is not giving up and continuing to work at something, despite difficulties encountered along the way.
PEST (Political, Environmental, Social and Technological)
Political pressure - This is the influence that government and local councils have on the way enterprises carry out their business.
Pop-ups – These are temporary physical shops or retail events that set up only for a short amount of time
Primary research – This involves collecting research directly from (potential or existing) customers. This is considered ‘first hand’ research
Private sector - These enterprises are owned by individuals, as opposed to the government or local authority, and are run for profit.
Private shares – These are a stake in a company, from which the shareholder receives a share of the profits (known as a dividend).
Products – Can be goods (tangible/physical) or services (intangible)
Profit is the amount of money earned minus the costs paid out
Profits – It is the amount of money put aside for a purpose
Public sector enterprises – These are, generally, owned by the government or a local authority.
Qualitative Data – This is information that collects data about people’s ideas, feelings, or thoughts about a product
Quantitative Data – Data that can be represented numerically usually in percentages, graphs, and charts
Recession - This is when the number and value of goods and services produced is going down. This may be followed by a lack in confidence and people buying less because they are concerned about the future.
Regulations - These interpret the law and state what people must do to abide by the law.
Reputation- This is the opinions that customers have about an enterprise
Retain – This means ensuring that a customer stays with an enterprise and does not take their custom to one of its competitors
Revenue - This is the money coming into the enterprise (income).
Secondary research – This involves suing information and data that already exists. It is often referred to as desk research
Sector - This is a part of the economy – for example, the IT sector, which consists of several related industries.
Self-employed (sole trader) – Somebody who is their own boss
Services – These are acts or tasks carried out by an enterprise that can be purchased
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) – These are enterprises with fewer than 250 staff
Small sized Enterprise – An enterprise that employs between 11 and 49 people.
SMART objectives – S – Smart, M – Measurable, A – Achievable, R – Realistic, T – Time-related
Social enterprise – These SME’s provide voluntary or charitable contributions to local communities or causes
Social Media – This includes websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking
Social pressure – This is the influence that communities, customers, business owners, employees and other enterprises have on the way an enterprise operates.
Stock - This is another word for goods an enterprise has immediately available for sale, without having to order more from its supplier.
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
Tastes - These are the trends or fashions that a consumer may follow, relating to what they like, dislike and are interested in.
Taxation - This is the amount of money an enterprise or entrepreneur must pay the government each year. Enterprises and entrepreneurs are taxed on the amount of money they earn from running their business
Unique – This means that something is one of a kind, so if an enterprise is unique it is the only one
Unlimited liability – This means a person is responsible for the debts of themselves and others. They are responsible for any losses
UPS (Unique Selling Point) – Something that is one of a kind